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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 548

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to restrict the amount

of money spent on Congressional campaigns, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 21, 1993

Mr. UPTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on House Administration

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

restrict the amount of money spent on Congressional

campaigns, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Cam5 paign Fairness Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of the Congress

8 that the amount of money that is spent by candidates for

9 election to the Congress has become far too excessive, that

10 the influence of political action committees has become too
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1 great, and that such candidates should strive to maximize

2 the amount of contributions they receive from within their

3 State. Because constitutional provisions restrict the ability

4 of the Congress to impose mandatory limits on total cam5 paign expenditures, any such limits should be voluntary

6 in nature.

7 (b) VOLUNTARY CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURE REQUIRE8 MENTS.—Candidates seeking election as a Senator or Rep9 resentative in, or a Delegate or Resident Commissioner

10 to, the Congress should—

11 (1) limit the contributions they accept from po12 litical action committees to no more than 40 percent

13 of all contributions made to their election campaign;

14 and

15 (2) require that at least 75 percent of the con16 tributions made by individuals to the election cam17 paigns of such candidates be from residents of the

18 State where that candidate resides.

19 SEC. 3. LIMITATIONS ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM POLITI20 CAL ACTION COMMITTEES.

21 (a) LIMITATION ON CONTRIBUTIONS TO INCUM22 BENTS.—Section 315(a)(2) of the Federal Election Cam23 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)) is amended—

24 (1) in subparagraph (B) by striking out ‘‘or’’;
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1 (2) in subparagraph (C) by striking out the pe2 riod and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘; or’’; and

3 (3) by adding after subparagraph (C) the fol4 lowing:

5 ‘‘(D) during the period beginning on the No6 vember 15 following the date of a regularly sched7 uled general election and ending on the following

8 November 14, to any individual elected to the office

9 of Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resi10 dent Commissioner to, the Congress at that election

11 or the authorized political committees of that indi12 vidual.’’.

13 (b) LIMITATION ON CONTRIBUTION AMOUNTS.—

14 Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 315(a)(2) of the

15 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

16 441a(a)(2) (A) and (C)) are each amended by striking out

17 ‘‘$5000’’ in each subparagraph and inserting in lieu there18 of ‘‘$2500’’.

19 SEC. 4. POLITICAL PARTY CONTRIBUTIONS.

20 Section 315(d) of the Federal Election Campaign Act

21 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(d)) is amended—

22 (1) in paragraph (1) by striking out ‘‘and (3)’’

23 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘, (3), and (4)’’;
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1 (2) in paragraph (3) by striking out ‘‘The’’ and

2 inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Except as provided in

3 paragraph (4), the’’; and

4 (3) by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(4)(A) The national committee of a political party,

6 or a State committee of a political party, including any

7 subordinate committee of a State committee, may contrib8 ute to a candidate for the office of Senator or Representa9 tive in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Con10 gress, or the authorized committee of that candidate, an

11 amount equal to the amount described in subparagraph

12 (B), if the candidate complies with section 2(b) of the Con13 gressional Campaign Fairness Act of 1993.

14 ‘‘(B) The amount referred to in subparagraph (A) is

15 the total amount of contributions of less than $200 each

16 that is received by a candidate described in that subpara17 graph, or the authorized committee of that candidate.’’.

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